Left to press for amendments to Lokpal Bill

NEW DELHI: Left parties would press for amendments to the Lokpal Bill on making a model legislation for Lokayukta, having an independent investigating agency under the ombudsman and bringing corporates and NGOs within its ambit.

"The CPI(M) will press for amendments on three crucial areas, the first being Lokayukta. There should be an enabling provision or a model legislation so that Lokayukta's establishment is left to the states," senior party leader Sitaram Yechury told reporters here.

He said the other areas were to provide for an independent investigating agency under the Lokpal and bringing under its ambit corporate houses and NGOs and not just the public sector and public servants.

Asked whether the amendments moved by the Left on the Lokpal bill had lapsed, Yechury said these could not lapse in the Rajya Sabha which was a permanent House. "However, if they ask for fresh amendments, we will repeat the same amendments".

To questions on making a model legislation or an enabling provision for creation of Lokayuktas by the states, he said, "Instead of a law which becomes a fiat for the states, it should be left to the states to invoke the enabling provision to create their own Lokayukta institutions".

This was necessary as prosecution, policing and investigation were matters whose powers were vested in the states, Yechury said.